


Birth of the Ships

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: Another Chance: Chronicles of DC/Pern [3]
Category: DCU (Comics), Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-21
Updated: 2013-10-21
Packaged: 2017-12-30 00:40:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1011975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim Tillek takes on yet another challenge from Paul Benden: establishing a fleet of ships to handle the shipment of goods back and forth from Southern to Fort. And here he thought he was going to get to retire...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birth of the Ships

_Late Southern Summer/Northern Winter, Year 6 of Pass/13 AL_

Paul looked up as Jim arrived at his office, guided there by one of the Duff clan's younger members. That particular family turned up everywhere, Jim thought, not for the first time, even as Paul gave him a small, but tired, smile and indicated the chair opposite his desk.

"I appreciate you coming up so fast. Is the new dock we set up decent enough for you and your ship?" Paul asked him.

"It's about all I could ask for," Jim said, studying Paul's exhausted face worriedly. The original extruded docking had been decent for mooring, even had room for short-term storage, but not ideal. The newly-built facility, partially cut into the rock with their over-worked laser cutters, was much better. "Deep enough cavern to put the _Cross_ under during Fall, and you've really built some very good cargo facilities, too. It's still a heckuva long sail across from Paradise, even kicking the engines on, but it's doable. Heck of a lot better than coming all the way from Landing, I've got to admit. What's Fulmar say?" 

At this point, Jim asked only out of hope there might have been another miracle.

"His opinion is that we've got no more than a few months left on any of the sleds still in service," Paul admitted, pushing a hand through his hair. "Even with everything we did once the dragons could fly Fall, grounding the sleds and letting them all rest, and Vic's miracle with the charging... we still worked them too hard. But Vic's had no luck with Kenjo's flier, at least not on reproducing it for mass use. Kenjo was fueling it with shuttle fuel, and we've long since eaten through all of that.

"Which leaves us at the unwelcome point of no options for speedy transportation between continents." He grimaced at Jim's opening his mouth to speak, and pushed on before he could. "Sean and Sorka both say the frequency of the Falls over our populated zones is too high to tax their forces for more than medical conveyances that are true emergencies."

Jim paused, thinking about that, and then he nodded slowly. "They do try to hit every Fall anywhere near habitation," he admitted after a few moments. "And it's got to be tiring on them. Just, that instant-transport of theirs is incredible. But we'll have to manage the trips by sail and engine, then."

He shook his head slowly, running one hand through his hair -- which seemed like it got more silvered every day. Thankfully Theo didn't mind, her occasional 'granddad' jibes notwithstanding. At least those were fewer and farther between now, with their daughter getting into trouble everywhere in Paradise and on the _Cross_. "Most of our food production in the South, most of our population here in the North... what the hell were we thinking, Paul?"

"That we don't have the right to force people to leave their lands, mostly. They're brave enough -- and stubborn enough -- to hang on down there, and I won't be the kind of dictator that would make them abandon it." 

Paul's sharp-edged answer set Jim back on his heels for a moment, blinking... and then he whistled out a sigh. "...have I ever mentioned how glad I am to just be a captain, Paul? You're right, and so are they. 

"Wish we'd brought the tech to flash-freeze, though. It'd help a lot, moving meat back and forth. Cows don't like boats, did you know?" 

"I know people and numbers, not cows," Paul said with a hint of his old sense of humor. "Rudi's pulled up every document in the databases on the technicalities of building boats, of sailing them. Ezra's churning out star and current charts," he added. "But Jim… we need you. I know you said you were tired after the Crossing, but we need you now. To teach, to train more sailors. To get this planet an honest to goodness merchant fleet going. We'll eventually get our own beef production going up here to offset the smoked and salted stuff your ships bring, but Omaha's produce still has to make the run regularly, because we're stretched too thin to get fields covered the way Wilson and Lance did. Not when we've got a housing crisis looming because of the population growth up here."

"You've got me," Jim said instantly, stretching his hand across to Paul's to squeeze in reassurance. "But if you don't find me someone that can make the innards of decent clocks and sextants, we're going to have trouble. Our digital timepieces and navigation aids are going to die -- we lost a ton of them in the storm during the Crossing, and every ship needs at least one, if not multiple." 

Paul sat back and reached up to flick his hair back, a clear sign that he'd never considered that and needed to get his thoughts in order. "For… establishing longitude, right?" He shook his head. "You know, when we planned for low-tech, I think we took for granted some of what that meant."

Jim smiled at him, quick and wry, and nodded. "We did, Paul. We really, really did... and now we're finding that out. But we're not sunk yet. Not while we've got the full computer databases, we've got to start getting ourselves weaned off digital. _Before_ we find out we've lost skills we didn't even know we need, and have to start re-inventing all the wheels. Dana Sejby -- Anders' widow -- she's one of the best sailors on the planet, and she's perfectly fit to teach, too."

Fond as he was of Per and Kaarvan, neither one of them had enough patience to teach, especially not landlubbers like so many of the colonists still were. He had another moment of regret over losing Anders and his ship in that damned typhoon last year. It had hurt like the hells, the big man had been such a calm, steady presence, but at least they hadn't lost Dana too.

Paul nodded. "Think Dana'd be willing to start a northern contingent? The pair of you setting up rival schools, might spur things along quicker but safer? Or is the fact the little ones are disappearing from the north a problem for Northern sailors? Are you able to plot courses to avoid Thread? Is there enough plas-sheeting to protect more ships? What are the logistics involved here?" He met Jim's eyes with a small, wan smile. "This is why I need you, Jim. You set up this merchant fleet along lines that make sense to you, and it's going into a top priority slot, just behind quarters."

Jim nodded, tucking each of those questions into the back of his head to look at. "She's got a queenrider daughter.... Tenneth, I think the queen's name is, Dana ought to go for it. All right, Paul. I'll get with Rudi and Ez and Dana and put our heads together, pull Joel in to talk production, and I'll have a plan on your desk in no more'n ten days." 

Paul stood, came around his desk, and took Jim's hand for a firmer shake. "I appreciate it, Jim. We'll find a way. This world is ours; we just have to bend to the demands enough to fit it."

"Aye, that," Jim agreed, standing up to match that shake. "See you then."

+++++

Dana looked at Jim like he'd lost his mind. "To make this work we need more boats than we have ready, Jim," she started ticking off on her fingers. "The light skiffs aren't for crossing the ocean, no matter how we made it work for the evacuation," she continued. "Also, do you know how many people are terrified of open water? It's worse than space madness. Between the agoraphobia and the fear of drowning… at least with space you knew you'd pop in less than eight seconds."

"I know, Dana. I know," Jim agreed. "May not understand it a bit, but I know it. And if I _never_ have to shepherd that many little skiffs across the ocean again, it will be years too soon!" He shared a smile with her over that, remembering some of what _she'd_ had to say after that storm. 

"So we get Tom to look at psych profiles, figure out who's most likely to hold up to the open ocean, and recruit from that pool. Theo's loving the idea of travelling back and forth regularly, and I think a lot of the other dolphineers will be more than willing to escort along with us. Get at least a pair, maybe two? to swim escort for us, and there's another reassurance for the crews." 

Dana nodded at that. "Doesn't change the fact we need keels laid down fast if we're going to be in service by the time the sleds fail. Can't even really make a passing ship out of any of their frames… works fine for harbor skiffs but not ocean goers." She frowned slightly. "Probably want to talk to the Ostrovsky family. They've got some fine machinists in their lot, might be able to craft and calibrate the tools we'll need, like your sextant." She squinted out toward the harbor. "Did Benden think about working out some form of carting system to get things from the dock up to the Fort? We don't need the portage half of this problem, Jim. We'll be on tight schedules, to keep the flow up and not get Thread eaten, you know."

"Not sure, but if he hasn't, I'll put it in his ear. Once it's off the ships, it's in the quartermasters' hands," Jim said, nodding firm and quick. "One of Joel's people, or Fulmar's, but not our problem as soon as it's swung off the ship. Swung," he muttered, another realization striking him. "Sure, most of it can be packed off by enough pairs of hands, but a decent crane or six would be a help. The Ostrovskys might help there, too. Something that can be taken down when not in service and stored out of Thread's reach -- eh. That's Joel's side of it." 

Dana sighed. "Jim, all of it sounds wonderful, but … do we even know if any of the trees will be seaworthy enough for the long haul as ships?" she pointed out. "I know there's been dugouts made, and those balsa-like craft, but to make something like your _Cross_? My own _Bayonne_? We brought those ships here in pieces, and had a bloody hell of a time finding the best glue for them, let alone pitch. Now we need more boats that have their capacity -- or even more, we need to go bigger than even the _Venturer_ \-- and no one's really stretched the Pernese trees that far. If it's going to be skybroom, and I can't think of a straighter tree, how in seven planets are we going to cut the stuff, when the lasers are all focused on just cutting enough quarters?"

She looked at Jim with pitying eyes. "I'll throw in with you, but this navy needs built, or all the people I train aren't going to do us a lick of good, my friend."

Jim paused, thinking, and then he grinned, quick and sharp. "There are diamonds all over this planet. Entire beaches of them. A diamond band saw or circular saw could surely do it."

Dana laughed at that, then nodded. "We'll need some engineers looking to specialize in wood and some in tool-making… but we might just be able to do it." She held her hand out to him. "I'll get started on the personnel for ships; you get that fleet built!"

Jim took her hand and shook it, grinning at her. "Yep. So, let's be about it, then. See you in a few, Dana." 

+++

"No retiring for you, hmm?" Theo carded her fingers through Jim's hair as they rested together in the cabin. Their daughter was already asleep, and had been for a little while, giving them some peace. He'd outlined everything they needed to get in place, the people he'd talked to already, and then stopped for her impressions. "The dolphins and us are more than willing, so long as your new shipmen listen to us," she said. "Don't even need to take that one to a meeting; we've been looking for a way to stay useful, now that we can't really explore as easily."

"No retiring, indeed," Jim said as he pushed his temple into her hand. "Wasn't expecting this out of Paul, but... it makes sense. And jays help us, bored dolphins and dolphineers?! Perish the thought, we've got to get ships together just to keep you lot happy!" He grinned at her as he said it, petting down the line of her side. 

She laughed at him, then pressed closer for a kiss. "I like the idea. The dragons can only do so much. And you keep extolling the virtues of shipboard life to anyone that listens for five minutes," she teased him. "We can make it work. I'll get with the rest of the dolphineers and their friends, work out logistics once you give me an idea of who will be captaining which ships. Have to make sure the dolphineers and their dolphins match up for a good rapport with their assigned ships, after all." Her eyes twinkled at him for the 'rapport' they'd made since the Landing evacuation.

He kissed her again for that, smiling even as he did, because she was everything he'd had no idea he was looking for. She and Dart both. Let alone their Nerys, light of his life. "Yeah. Get with Dana, she's taking over personnel," he suggested, against her lips, and she breathed back, "yeah. Later," before she dragged him closer, and he put the job out of his mind to pay attention to her instead. 

+++

The problem wasn't getting the trees felled -- Jim had been on the right track with his thoughts about diamond-encrusted saws. It wasn't even beginning the work of turning them into lumber, as it turned out Cobber had insisted on a lumber mill going in, well up the river, and roofed so he could have supports for some of the housing projects that needed additional internal bracing.

It turned out to be a matter of getting the damn things down to the dock so they could be made into ships, because the river wasn't yet dredged for more than the small fishing skiffs, and the lumber they started to float down got snarled on the first try.

As much as Jim didn't want to push for dragon assistance, he finally broke down and commed back to the Caves. At least this would be a one-off trick, asking for help to basically end the donkey work those poor dragons kept getting called for.

"Da… yes, Caves," Leonid answered, trying to soothe his son down and sounding very tired.

"Leonid, it's Jim Tillek. Can you ask Sean to send someone for me up at the Fort's sea dock? I've got a proposal that will cut way down on requests for moving things, I hope," Jim told him.

"Truly?" That brought at least a little more life to Leonid's voice. "Da, will get someone for you, and soon! Likely greenrider. Anything else?"

"Can't think of a thing," Jim answered, and Leonid dropped off the comm. Jim stretched from fingertip to fingertip, and headed out to lean against a convenient plastic pylon and wait.

True to Leonid's word, within twenty minutes a green dragon and her rider popped into the air high above Fort and flew down in an easy, gliding landing only a few feet away. The small Eurasian woman looked faintly familiar, but Jim couldn't come up with why.

"Good afternoon, Captain Tillek," she called out from her dragon's back, a quick smile on her face. "I'm Zhou Marceau, and this is Kith. Have you ever been a-dragonback?"

"Afternoon to you both, and no, can't say as I have," Jim said, shaking his head as he walked over to her. The green's head turned on her long neck, watching him. Her eyes were that blue-green color that meant a content fire-lizard, so hopefully that meant she didn't mind carrying people along.

"It's quite an experience," Zhou said, putting a hand down to shake. "Kith, my darling love, a leg for the captain, please?"

Jim blinked, a little startled, as the dragon crouched down low and hunched one foreleg out, making what looked like an easy mounting-block. Zhou smiled, letting go of his right hand. "Here, give me your left, sir, and step up with your left foot. Swing your right leg up over, and just settle in the ridge behind me."

"I won't hurt her?"

"You'd have to be trying, and we've faith you won't," Zhou answered, but it seemed as though her smile was a little wider. He took her hand and stepped, careful of Kith's folded wings as he swung his leg over, and in a moment he was sitting on a dragon's back. "Kith said she's fine," Zhou told him as she passed him the harness lines for a passenger. "Hold this; you'll jerk when she jumps up."

Jim wrapped his hands around the lines, holding on -- and sure enough, much as he tried not to, when she sprang up and her wings snapped open, he did jerk. It felt like being pitched on a high sea, sudden shifting from weightless to firmly thrown against her, that first minute as she climbed for air.

"There's no way to explain _between_ , sorry," Zhou yelled over her shoulder, "it's... black as space, I guess, and so cold. Just eight seconds of it, though."

Dana's words about space fear versus sea fear came back to him, and Jim just nodded, bracing for it. He'd been an able captain in space and…

… blacker than the blackest space he'd ever seen. Cold, biting in, just as he'd always imagined the space around him would feel without his suit. Memories of being a young cadet and mistakenly grabbing for a tool that had just come inside, without his gloves, and having his instructor slap his hand away came to him. The cold had been roiling on that tool in the brief instant his hand had been near it, but that was nothing compared to…

… humid and hot air touched his skin, a sharp reminder of the seasonal differences that drew him out of the memories and the cold of that non-place.

"You all right, sir?" Zhou asked as Jim tried to get his bearings. 

"Yes," he said, finally spotting enough landmarks to know they were circling over the Dragon Caves. "That -- it's really something." 

"Sure is," she agreed, and Kith circled down, easy and graceful, to land near the main entrance. "Slide on down, and I'll take you to the Weyrleader's office." 

Jim let go of the harness and did just that, then remembered something Pol'd said, and he looked to where Kith had swiveled her head back at him. "Thank you." Sometimes it was hard to remember that sentience came in non-human packages, but Theo and Dart (and Theresa) had done wonders to break him from his human-centric thinking patterns.

Zhou smiled, pleased at that. "She says you are welcome." The green rider then indicated he should follow her.

He did, falling in behind her. The baskets of glows made him grin -- that was a trick they'd quickly picked up at Paradise, one that saved the electric power for more important things than lights -- and it wasn't long until he stepped into the hewn-rock office that Sean had made his own. 

Sean looked up, nodded briefly to Zhou, then focused intently on Jim. "You told Leonid you have a proposal to end the calls for my people to be flying donks." He never had been one for more than blunt appraisals, Jim had learned… and remembered all the way back to the boy Sean had once been.

"They're already far more than that, Sean," Jim answered him, "but yes. Admin's finally seen sense and decided we've got to have more of a sea-worthy fleet than my _Cross_ , Dana's _Bayonne_ , Per's _Perseus_ , Pete's _Maid_ , and Karvaan's _Venturer_.... especially since at least two of the five have to stay near Fort to haul in enough catch to feed the population there. We've got skybroom cut at Cobber's lumber mill for keels and planking, but we can't move the blessed stuff down to the shipyard!" 

He could see Sean's question, and he sighed. "The river from the mill down just isn't deep enough or wide enough to handle the lumber, we tried and promptly spent a blessed week hauling it back out and under cover. Red doesn't have horses with the bulk to haul wagons loaded with keels, masts, or even planking, either. 

"I don't like asking it of you, but we've tried every other option I can think of. Can you lend us enough dragons to haul our lumber down to the Sea Hold, so we can take over more of the back and forth trade?"

Sean frowned, considering it. He didn't like diverting his men and dragons for that kind of work… but he had a weyrling class that was mature enough for carry and fetch. He'd have to detail an older rider to supervisor… maybe one of the queens, to be on the safe side. Seriously, even with older riders, sometimes the weyrlings had little sense.

It would be worth it, to not have to worry how he was going to get the harvest sent north quickly enough, when Thread was taking so much of his time. Maybe, with the shift to a naval support for transport, he could get his plans for shifting people hammered out more swiftly. That would be a boon in the long run almost as great as the relief from deliveries.

"Will these boats be ready in time for the harvest, Jim?" Sean asked. "Or is it a case of 'ready this year, use them next'?" The answer would determine Sean's decision.

Jim tugged at his hair for a moment, not entirely sure what that answer was. "With some luck we can be ready for harvest, but it's going to be tight. I found people that know shipbuilding, and we've got room to lay more than one keel at once…"

Sean considered that… optimism didn't weigh into his plans often, but Jim was being honest even with that optimistic streak. "Get me detailed images, airspace cleared, and all your lumber in cargo nets as soon as possible, and we'll move your wood for you. The sooner it's done, the sooner you can get your boats made."

"You've got a deal, Sean," Jim answered. "I'll send the fax to Leonid as soon as we have the images. There's nothing but you all in the sky these days, outside of serious emergencies. It'll be clear for you." Jim reached across the desk to shake on it. 

Sean shook his hand firmly, then nodded brusquely. "Zhou will take you back; she's waiting in the large common room three doors down from here," he added.

"Thank you, Sean," Jim said, flicking him a smile before he went on and got out of the Weyrleader's office.

+++ 

The new breed of Pernese, Jim decided, could get interested in a match-burning contest… and that made him think he should talk to someone about making some of those old sulfur-headed stick matches. But right now, more than anything, he was amused by the fact everyone and their mother seemed to have an opinion on what the two keels recently laid in the cradles should be named when they were actually fully made into ships.

He was even more amused that a good part of the crowd seemed to think they should tell him about their ideas, as though he had any say over that at all. No, Bruce Olivine and Aiko Tanaka were going to captain these two -- they'd impressed enough of the captains during the Crossing that the choices had been... if not easy, at least uneventful -- once they were ready for the water. 

He didn't even want to imagine how many people had pestered _them_ with opinions, he decided, leaning back on one foot -- 

\-- and a voice spoke from beside him. "They're going to be lovely." 

A woman's voice, one he didn't know, and he turned. She looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't seem to place her. "I think they will, yes," he agreed, flicking a smile at the long keels in the cradles. 

"Maybe they should be named for the ships that brought us here? With the next, of course, to take the third name." She looked at them again. "Or maybe for the local system names, like Rukbat and the like?" 

He really should've known. "Maybe," he said, using his best neutral tone. The idea had some merit, at least. He wasn't sure what he thought of another ship, even a sailing ship, having the _Bahrain_ 's name... but then again, what could be luckier? She and her sisters had gotten them safely here, after all. 

"I do think it would be a good idea to avoid some of the common Earth names. Enterprise and all its ill-luck, or the Monitor, and the Hood…" She smiled up at him. "Fresh new starts… maybe new names are needed," she admitted.

Huh. Well, at least she knew something about old Earth nautical history while she was commenting about naming ships. "There, ma'am, you have a point. I'm sorry, I don't think we've met." 

"Quite all right," she said, shaking her head a little, "I came on the _Buenos Aires_ , and I'm Patty Swann, Captain." 

"Pleasure," he told her. "And I won't hold it against you for not being on my own ship," he said, with a smile and a teasing tone. "I feel like the two ships there should be in their captains' hands for the names, Ms. Swann. They're the ones that have to live and breathe on those decks, and they'll need the closeness that naming brings."

Patty tipped her head a little, then nodded once. "I can see your side of it. And there's points there. It's just… this project, to get us a way to make a life for ourselves despite our losses," and she looked gray with that withered look of one who had survived a close loss, "means all the people want to give the best of their love and luck to the ships too, Captain Tillek."

Who was hers, he wondered, but he let that question go -- it just wasn't something you asked. That... he hummed thoughtfully, nodding. "You've a point, there," he admitted. "Good reason to make the Naming as much of a festival as it used to be on Earth, then. Be a few weeks... time enough to suggest it to Admin and plan one." 

She gave him a smile for that. "Thank you for listening." She moved away with a quiet nod of departure, leaving him to think on it.

+++

Theo tucked in closer to her husband, none too sure of the press of people. "Sometimes I think they're all bloody idiots, this many people crammed into the Fort and its few satellites," she muttered at the throngs of people here for the naming of the ships. The two engineering teams had been competing, and finished within minutes of one another. "But fear does that… makes me admire the ones South with us all the more." She was just as glad she'd found a crewman with no interest in the festival (so long as she brought him back some food) to watch their daughter on board the ship. 

"So it does," Jim agreed quietly, his arm wrapping tighter around her. "To both, even." 

He had never been much for crowds, and spending most of his time aboard the _Cross_ with his wife, child, and the occasional couple of crew members hadn't changed that. Even getting stuck with most of the administration of the Paradise River docks hadn't done much to that -- Claire Byrne tended to take over the day-to-day and only ask him when she felt overwhelmed. "Is nice to see them interested in something outside of the rock, though." 

"True… oh look!" Theo pointed out toward the harbor, where the water was suddenly frothing around many, many dolphin fins. "Must be every pod… and Dart didn't tell me they were coming! Sneaky fin-face!" she pouted.

"Teresa didn't tell me, either," Jim pointed out, amused at her pouting and the dolphins both, "and she has to have been behind this." 

"Probably," Theo said, grinning. "These ships mark a new beginning for us as a people, Jim, and the dolphins know it."

The pods were drawing lots of attention now, as they began playing in the outer waters, showing off for the audience.

"Such born showpeople," Jim said, shaking his head as he tried to pick out which dolphins were which in the leaping and tailwalking show-offs. 

"Really are," Theo agreed, losing some of her discomfort around all the people by focusing on the dolphin antics. "There's Dart!" She pointed out their own friend, tail dancing with some of the younger dolphins of the other pods.

"Sure is -- " 

Emily's voice, amplified by microphone, called from the podium between the two ships, "And now that the dolphins have come to join the event, if you all would turn your attention to us, we'll begin the Naming ceremonies!" 

Jim glanced out towards Dart and the others one more time, then gave Emily -- and the new captains -- his attention. The ships deserved that and then some, with all the promise they offered. 

+++


End file.
